SPEECH 


OF 


Governor  Coe  I.  Crawford 

Delivered  at  Eureka,   S.  D. 


December  2,   1907 


GOVERNOR  COE  I.  CRAWFORD 
Republican  Candidate  For  United  States  Senator 


Speech  of  Governor  Coe  I.  Crawford, 

Delivered  at  Eureka,  S.  D., 

December  2,  1907. 


FELLOW-CITIZENS :— Under  our  form  of  government,  the 
people  choose  their  public  officers  by  voting1  for  them  at  the  gen- 
eral elections. 

The  right  to  vote  for  public  servants  is  one  of  the  most 
sacred  rights  secured  to  the  citizen.  While  he  has  enjoyed  this 
right  to  vote  at  the  general  elections,  he  has  not  had  much  to, 
say  about  the  names  printed  on  the  ticket.  Those  names  have 
been  selected  by  conventions  which  too  often  have  been  con- 
trolled by  schemers,  tricky  politicians,  railroad  lobbyists  and 
bosses. 

Under  the  new  law  passed  last  winter  and  called  the  primary 
election  law,  each  political  party  will  decide  whose  names  shall 
be  printed  upon  its  ticket  by  a,  direct  vote.  That  is  to  say,  on 
the  second  Tuesday  in  next  June  each  voter  in  the  republican 
party  will  have  the  right  to  pick  out  from  a  primary  ballot  con- 
taining the  names  of  two  or  more  candidates  belonging  to  his 
party  for  each  office  the  one  who  is  his  choice,  and  the  person 
who  gets  the  highest  number  of  votes  cast  in  this  way  will  be 
the  regular  candidate  of  his  party  to  be  voted  for  at  the  follow- 
ing general  election  in  November.  This  is  to  be  the  method  of 
selecting  candidates  in  the  future  instead  of  the  convention.  I 
am  a  republican  and  have  never  voted  any  other  ticket.  I  shall 
be  a  candidate  for  United  States  Senator  at  this  primary  election 
on  the  second  Tuesday  in  June  as  a  republican.  Hon.  A.  B.  Kit- 
tredge  is  a  republican  and  he  will  also  be  a  candidate  for  U.  S. 
Senator.  The  republican  voters  will  at  the  party  primary  elec- 
tion in  June  vote  for  their  choice  between  Mr.  Kittredge  and 
myself.  If  he  receives  the  highest  number  of  the  votes  cast  by 
republicans  in  their  primaries  in  the  whole  state,  I  will  drop  out 
and  he  will  be  the  republican  candidate  from  that  time  on  until 
after  the  general  election  in  November  and  the  election  of  the 
United  States  Senator  by  the  next  Legislature  of  South  Dakota. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  I  receive  the  highest  number  of  the  votes 
cast  by  the  republicans  at  their  primaries  in  the  whole  state,  then 


— 2 — 

it  will  be  his  duty  to  drop  out  and  he  will  no  longer  be  the  can- 
didate of  the  republican  party  for  the  position,  but  I  will  be 
the  party  candidate  for  that  office.  This  is  the  way  the  voters 
will  select  their  other  party  candidates,  governor,  lieutenant  gov- 
ernor, secretary  of  state,  auditor,  and  the  other  candidates  for 
state  offices. 

This  vote  at  the  republican  primaries  in  June  will  be  be- 
tween republicans  to  decide  what  candidates  shall  be  selected 
and  put  upon  their  ticket  to  make  the  fight  against  the  democrats 
at  the  general' November  election  following.  After  this  primary 
election  is  over  and  we  thus  decide  who  our  candidates  against 
the  democrats  shall  be,  we  should,  of  course,  remain  good  repub- 
licans and  support  our  own  ticket.  I  have  always  been  a  re- 
publican and  believe  most  devoutly  in  the  principles  of  the  re- 
publican party.  It  is  the  greatest  political  party  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  It  came  into  existence  over  fifty  years  ago  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  their  liberty  to  four  million  slaves,  and  of 
saving  our  great  republic  from  being  divided  into  two  hostile 
nations.  Its  first  great  leader  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  greatest 
friend  of  the  common  people,  who  ever  breathed  the  atmosphere 
of  freedom.  It  has  stood  for  good  government  and  honest  money 
and  has-  followed  a  course  of  wise  statesmanship  which  has  se- 
cured for  the  farmer  good  prices  for  his  products,  for  the  laborer 
good  wages,  and  for  the  business  man  and  manufacturer  all  the 
advantages  of  a  protected  home  market. 

The  People  and  the  Corporations 

The  republican  party  today,  under  the  leadership  of  our 
great  President,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  is  true  to  its  high  purpose 
to  be  a  great  instrumentality  for  the  help  of  the  common  people. 
We  have  before  us  the  great  questions  between  the  people  and 
the  big  trusts  and  corporations,  and  the  President  is  firmly  ad- 
hering to  his  determination  that  they  shall  be  controlled  by  the 
law  and  made  to  obey  it  the  same  as  a  common  every-day  citizen 
is  controlled  by  it  and  made  to  obey  it.  The  President  has  a 
mighty  big  task  on  his  hands.  Great  railroad  companies,— all 
banded  together,— and  in  league  with  enormous  trusts,  like  the 
Standard  Oil  Company  with  its  hundreds  of  millions  of  wealth, 
are  hard  to  control  and  to  keep  within  bounds. 

Sometimes'  these  great  companies-  appear  to  think  they  are 
greater  than  the  government  and  they  have  their  attorneys  and 
agents  and  lobbyists  at  work  everywhere,  trying  to  control  the 
politics  of  the  country  and  prevent  any  laws  from  being  passed 
to  check  their  abuses. 

This  is  just  why  we  have  for  several  years  been  having  a 
hard  fight  in  our  own  republican  party  in  South  Dakota.  The 
railroad  companies  had  too  much  power  in  the  party  and  pre- 


"?          IT.— 

vented  the  conventions  from  passing  any  resolutions  in  favor  of 
making  them  pay  their  share  of  taxes,  and  they  got  control  of  the 
leaders  so  that  a  law  could  not  be  passed  in  the  legislature  to 
make  them  do  what  is  right  in  paying  for  cattle  they  killed,  and 
for  the  property  they  burned  up,  and  compelling  them  to  con- 
nect their  tracks  so  that  a  car  load  of  goods  on  one  road  could 
be  transferred  over  onto  another  road  without  unloading,  and 
compelling  them  to  pay  their  share  of  taxes. 

Senator  Kittredge  and  his  personal  friends-  and  lieutenants 
favored  the-  corporations,  and  the  corporations-  favored  him  and 
the  rights  of  the  people  were  overlooked. 

This  is  why  we  have  been  having  a  fight  within  our  own 
ranks  in  the  republican  party. 

I  have  insisted  that  our  party  should  not  be  controlled  in 
this  manner  by  Senator  Kittredge  and  the  railroads.  It  was  all 
wrong.  Here  is  a  table  which  shows  how  the  railroads  got  out  of 
paying  their  share  of  taxes  in  this  state,  where  they  paid  the 
smallest  tax  in  any  state  in  the  United  States. 

Report  Inter-State  Commerce  Commission  1902 : 

Amount  of  Tax 
State  Paid  Per  Miic 

North  Dakota $210.00 

Nebraska 204.00 

Wyoming  141.00 

Montana  129.00 

Missouri   203.00 

Nevada  193.00 

Texas    110.00 

Iowa  171.00 

Minnesota   247 . 00 

South  Dakota 96 . 00 

This  shows  that  in  South  Dakota  the  railroads  by  getting 
too  much  power  over  the  political  party  and  by  being  favored 
by  our  leaders  got  out  of  paying  more  than  half  the  taxes  they 
had  to  pay  in  surrounding  states.  I  opposed  this  as  unjust  and 
unfair  to  the  people. 

The  Record  of  Senaor  Kittredge 

I  did  not  come  here  to  abuse  Senator  Kittredge  and  do  not 
believe  abuse  is  argument ;  but  I  contend  that  the  record  shows 
that  he  has  favored  the  corporations  as  a  party  leader  and  as 
a  United  Statess  Senator  and  that  his  political  friends  have  done 
the  same  thing. 

This  I  am  prepared  to  prove  to  you. 


— 4— 

In  1896  I  was  a  candidate  on  the  republican  ticket  for  Con- 
gress along  with  Hon.  Robert  J.  Gamble.  Hon.  A.  0.  Ringsrud 
was  candidate  for  Governor.  Hon.  J.  D.  Elliott  was  Chairman 
of  the  Republican  State  Central  Committee  and  Mr.  Kittredge 
was  National  Committeeman  from  South  Dakota.  We  were  all 
in  favor  of  sound  money  but  the  populists  and  free  silverites 
beaL  us  that  year. 

Mr.  McKinley  was  elected  President,  however,  and,  of  course, 
he  made  a  number  of  appointments  in  South  Dakota,  such  as 
United  States  Marshal,  Registers  and  Receivers  of  the  Land  Of- 
fices, Indian  Agents,  Surveyor  General,  Revenue  Collector,  etc. 
Mr.  Kittredge  made  Mr.  Gamble,  Mr.  Elliott,  Mr.  Ringsrud  and 
myself  believe  1;hat  we  could  join  with  him  in  recommending 
candidates  for  these  positions,  and  that  when  the  majority 
agreed  in  favor  of  an  applicant,  he  would  be  appointed.  "We 
discovered  afterwards  that  we  were  simply  being  used  by  him  as 
"stool  pigeons",  and  that  he  had  secretly  made  an  agreement 
at  Washington -that  he  and  A.  C.  Johnson,  the  General  Agent 
of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railroad  Company,  along  witli 
Mr.  J.  D.  Ellott,  should  control  all  such  appointments,  when  the 
rest  of  us  did  not  agree.  He  made  this  agreement  secretly  and 
kept  it  from  Gamble,  Ringsrud  and  myself. 

At  that  time,  Mr.  Kittredge  was  the  attorney  for  the  Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Railroad  Company.  You  see  he  had 
it  fixed  so  that  the  Northwestern  and  Milwaukee  railroads  could 
control  these  appointments  through  him  and  Mr.  A.  C.  Johnson 
because  he  and  Mr.  Johnson  could  outvote  Mr.  Elliott.  This 
put  the  federal  patronage  of  this  state  under  the  control  of  the 
railroads  and  was  an  act  of  treachery  and  deceit  towards  Gamble, 
Ringsrud  and  myself,  who  had  just  made  a  hard  and  expensive 
fight.  This  was  his  first  move  to  put  the  republican  party  under 
the  control  of  the  railroads.  He  then  built  up  a  powerful  polit- 
ical machine  ring.  Every  branch  of  the  party  organization  be- 
came completely  subservient  to  his  will,  and  he  was  elected 
United  States  Senator  in  1903.  He  was  the  political  trustee  in 
whose  hands  was  lodged  all  the  political  power  of  the  Milwau- 
kee, the  Northwestern  and  the  Great  Northern  Railway  Com- 
panies in  this  state. 

It  is  quite  generally  understood  that  through  the  influence 
of  these  great  railroads,  who  are  opposed  to  the  Panama  Canal, 
he  secured  a  place  upon  the  Canal  Committee. 

The  people  soon  began  to  feel  the  ruthless  power  of  the  boss 
in  the  distribution  of  spoils,  the  manipulation  of  caucuses  and 
the  control  of  conventions. 

At  the  state  capital,  during  sessions  of  the  legislature,  lobby- 
ists representing  corporate  interests  were  given  free  rein,  taken 
into  full  fellowship  with  the  Kittredge  leaders,  and  allowed  their 


— 5— 

every  wish  in  the  election  of  presiding  officers  and  in  the  selec- 
tion of  committees. 

At  the  state  conventions  the  railroads  trusted  to  the  boss  to 
protect  them  and  he  did  it. 

Not  a  resolution  in  favor  of  reform  was  passed.  Not  a  bill 
for  the  correction  of  a  single  corporate  abuse  was  enacted  into 
law.  Free  passes  and  franks  were  freely  distributed  among 
state,  federal  and  judicial  officers  and  to  political  rounders  and 
heelers.  Independence  on  the  part  of  public  officers  and  candi- 
dates was  destroyed. 

Mrn  were  taught  by  bitter  defeat  that  the  only  way  to  gain 
recognition  and  political  preferment  was  to  bow  in  abject  sub- 
serviency to  the  dictation  of  the  Kittredge-railroad  machine. 
This  machine  became  arrogant,  ruthless,  cruel.  It  played  the 
game  with  loaded  dice  and  sneered  at  opposition. 

If  you  dared  oppose  it,  you  were  over-borne  and  crushed. 
Rule  or  ruin  became  its  only  means  of  holding  absolute  dominion 
over  a  great  party.  Of  course,  this  could  not  last.  No  free  and 
spirited  people  will  tolerate  conditions  of  this  kind  very  long. 
They  wanted  public  service  corporations  to  pay  their  full  share 
of  the  public  taxes  but  could  secure  no  declaration  of  this  kind 
in  a  convention  controlled  by  the  machine.  They  wanted  to 
have  a  voice  in  the  selection  of  candidates  fee-  public  office  with- 
out the  dictation  of  a  party  boss  and  the  railroads,  but  resolu- 
tions favoring  the  giving  of  this  power  to  the  people  were  sup- 
pressed. 

During  all  the  years  from  1897  to  1906,  neither  Senator  Kit- 
tredge  nor  any  lieutenant  or  adherent  of  his  was  ever  known 
to  favor  a  single  remedy  or  to  give  support  or  encouragement  to 
any  person  proposing  one. 

The  State  Committee,  which  should  have  represented  the 
entire  republican  party,  fairly  and  impartially,  became  a  mere 
Kittredge-railroad  cabal,  whose  purpose  was  to  execute  his  will 
and  that  of  the  railroads  behind  him.  The  Chairman  and  Treas- 
urer of  the  State  Republican  Central  Committee  collected  assess- 
ments from  office  holders  amounting  to  thousands  of  dollars  and 
spent  it  as  they  pleased  and  then  burned  up  the  account  books. 

Record  of  the  Kittredge  Machine 

The  fight  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  over-throw  this  ma- 
chine corporation  tyranny  of  which  Mr.  Kittredge  was  the  head, 
began  in  December  1903,  when  I  declared  that  I  would  be  a 
candidate  for  Governor  without  asking  its  consent.  The  Senator 
hurried  home  from  Washington  and  held  a  council  with  his  lien- 
tenants  and  at  once  turned  the  full  force  of  his  powerful  railroad 
machine  organization  against  me.  The  fight  raged  from  Decem- 
ber until  the  convention  in  May,  1904.  At  that  convention,  in 


order  to  defeat  me,  it  is  now  a  generally  accepted  fact  that  Sen- 
ator Kittredge  and  the  railroad  companies  made  a  secret  agree- 
ment with  Mr.  Martin  by  which  they  agreed  to  support  him  for 
United  States  Senator  to  succeed  'Senator  Gamble  and  to  turn 
G  mble  out,  in  return  for  the  support  of  the  Black  Hills-  delega- 
tions. In  order  to  beat  me,  this  railroad  machine  did  not  hes- 
itate to  play  double  with  Senator  Gamble,  whom  the  Kittredge 
machine  had  agreed  to  support. 

By  this  sort  of  duplicity,  treachery  and  double  dealing,  and 
by  the  use  of  patronage  and  passes,  I  was  defeated. 

I  accepted  the  re-suit  without  a  word  of  complaint  and  loy- 
ally supported  the  ticket  nominated.  But  after  election,  we  be- 
gan a  campaign  in  favor  of  a  primary  election  law,  an  anti-pass 
law  and  other  reforms  to  put  an  end  to  machine  and  boss  rule 
in  this  state.  Then  came  the  plot  against  Senator  Gamble. 

Senator  Kittredge  and  a  few  of  his  lieutenants  held  a  secret 
meeting  in  the  dead  hours  of  the  night  in  Aberdeen  and  decided 
to  retire  Mr.  Elliott  from  the  office  of  United  States  Attorney 
and  to  defeat  Mr.  Gamble  for  re-election  as  United  States  Sen- 
ator. We  went  out  before  the  people  last  year  and  beat  this 
secret  scheme  and  carried  the  state  convention  by  a  large  ma- 
jority. Why?  Because  the  people  had  grown  tired  of  boss 
rule  and  railroad  domination  in  the  republican  party.  Now  Mr. 
Kittredge  wants  the  people  to  put  him  and  the  railroads  back 
at  the  head  again. 

Besides  all  this,  Senator  Kittredge  and  his  lieutenants  have 
not  supported  the  President  in  his  great  measures.  The  record 
proves  that  they  have  been  traitors  to  the  good  cause  for  which 
the  president  stands  and  they  cannot  dispute  it.  Look  at  the 
record  and  see  for  yourself.  It  shows : 

1.  The  legislature  of  1905  was  controlled  by  Kittredge 
and  his  lieutenants.  It  convened  immediately  after  Pres- 
ident Roosevelt  presented  his  ringing  message  to  Congress 
asking  for  legislation  to  prevent  railroads  from  making  excess- 
ive charges  upon  the  people.  If  Kittredge  was  en  the  side  of 
the  President,  why  did  not  his  friends  in  this  legislature,  which 
they  controlled,  pass  some-  resolution  endorsing  the  policies  of 
the  President  and  encouraging  him?  They  absolutely  refused  to 
say  one  word  in  favor  of  the  proposition  of  the  President.  Just 
look  a  moment  at  this  record : 

February  10,  1905,  Mr.  Lindley  introduced  House  Joint  Res- 
olution No.  12,  endorsing  President  Roosevelt's  efforts  to  secure 
reform  in  railroad  rate  legislation.  It  was  put  to  sleep  in  com- 
mittee and  never  even  reported.  (House  Journal  1905,  pages 
476,  480). 

February  28th,  1905,  House  Joint  Resolution  memorializing 
Congress  to  endorse  and  assist  President  Roosevelt  in  his  efforts 


to  secure  an  equitable  adjustment  of  transportation  charges  came 
to  the  Senate  and  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Rules  of 
which  Senator  Lawson,— a  friend  of  Senator  Kittredge,— -was 
chairman.  It  was  killed  in  that  committee..  (Senate  Journal 
1905,  page  945). 

January  9th,  1905,  Senator  Rice  introduced  Senate  Joint 
Resolution  No.  9,  memorializing  Congress  to  pass  a  law  enlarging 
the  powers  of  the  Inter-State  Commerce  Commission  and  to 
"keep  the  highways  of  commerce  open  to  all  upon  equal  terms." 

It  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  which  Senator  Kittredge 's 
close  friend,  Senator  Lawson,  was  chairman.  It  was  killed  in, 
that  committee  and  never  reported.  (Senate  Journal,  1905,  page 
119.) 

February  17th,  1905,  Senator  Cassill  introduced  Senate  Joint 
Resolution  No.  13,  requesting  the  senators  and  representatives 
of  South  Dakota  to  sustain  the  President  in  his  efforts  to  secure 
just  and  equitable  transportation  charges. 

It  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Rules,  of  which  Kit- 
tredge's  close  friend  Lawson  was  chairman. 

It  was  killed  in  that  committee.  (Senate  Journal  1905,  page 
546). 

February  1st,  1905,  Senator  Shober  introduced  Senate-  Bill 
No.  120,  making  railway  companies  liable  for  injuries  to  an  em- 
ploye caused  by  the  negligence  of  a  co-employe  while  in  the  dis- 
charge of  a  duty  to  his  employer.  Senate  Jourial,  1905,  page 
347.  (This  was  similar  to  a  law  afterwards  passed  in  Congress 
and  approved  by  President  Roosevelt.)  It  was  referred  to  a 
committee  in  the  Senate  and  killed  in  that  committee. 

A  constitutional  petition  signed  by  8,884  citizens  of  South 
Dakota  and  declared  legal  and  valid  by  the  Attorney  General  of 
the  State,  asking  the  legislature  of  1905  to  enact  a  primary  elec- 
tion law  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Rules,  of  which  Sen- 
ator Lawson,— Kittredge 's  close  political  friend,~~was  chairman. 
A  member  of  the  railroad  lobby  and  not  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature at  all,  wrote  out  a  report  for  Lawson  recommending  that 
this  petition  be  indefinitely  postponed  and  it  was  killed. 

Besides  this,  the  Kittredge  newspapers  all  over  the  state 
under  the  lead  of  the  Aberdeen  News  and  the  Sioux  Falls  Argus- 
Leader  opposed  the  President's  railroad  rate  measure. 

Senator  Kittredge  Against  President  Roosevelt 

2.  But  we  have  better  evidence  still.  Senator  Kittredge 
never  said  a  word  in  the  United  States  Senate  in  favor  of  the 
railroad  rate  bill  recommended  by  the  President.  He  waited  un- 
til everyone  knew  the  bill  would  pass  without  his  v€te  and  then 
he  stated  he  would  vote  for  it. 

A  very  important  matter  in  this  railroad  rate  legislation  is 


to  know  what  the  railroads  are  really  worth  in  cash.  When  you 
know  that,  you  have  ascertained  an  important  fact  to  aid  in  de- 
termining whether  the  charges  collected  for  hauling  passengers 
and  freight  are  reasonable,  or  not.  The  companies  have  a  right 
to  make  a  reasonable  profit  upon  the  money  they  have  put  into 
the  roads,  but  not  an  unreasonable  profit.  So,  in  order  to  know 
whether  the  profit  they  make  is  reasonable  or  unreasonable,  it 
is  necessary  to  ascertain  the  value  of  the  roads. 

While  the  rate  bill  recommended  by  the  President  was  pend- 
ing in  the  United  States  Senate,  a  motion  was  made  to  amend  it 
by  making  provision  for  finding  out  the  actual  value  of  the  rail- 
roads engaged  in  Inter-State  Commerce.  Senator  Gamble  voted 
in  favor  of  this  amendment,  but  Senator  Kittredge,  true  to  his 
partiality  for  the  railroads,  voted  against  it. 

President  Roosevelt  and  his  cabinet  of  advisers,  who  had 
thoroughly  examined  the  whole  subject,  and  the  majority  of  the 
Panama  Canal  Committee  in  the  United  States  Senate  recom- 
mended that  a  canal  with  locks  be  built.  Congressman  Burton 
of  Ohio,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Rivers  and  Harbors  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  highest  expert  upon  this 
subject  in  either  branch  of  Congress,  made  a  speech  before  the 
House  on  June  15th,  1906,  in  which  he  proved  so  clearly  that  a 
lock  canal  is  safer  and  better  than  a  sea  level  canal,  and  that  it 
can  be  completed  in  eight  years  at  a  cost  of  less  than  140  million 
dollars,  while  a  sea  level  canal  would  take  nearly  twenty  years 
in  building  and  would  cost  248  million  dollars,  that  the  House 
of  Representatives  decided  in  favor  of  the  lock  canal  without  a 
single  dissenting  vote.  But  the  railroads  are  opposed  to  this 
canal  because  it  would  make  freights  cheaper  for  the  people  of 
this  country.  They  found  out  that  they  could  not  defeat  the 
canal  outright,  so  they  tried  to  do  the  next  best  thing,  get  the 
government  to  switch  from  a  lock  canal  to  a  sea  level  canal, 
which  would  put  it  off  twenty  years  and  make  it  cost  so  much 
that  they  hoped  the  people  would  get  sick  of  it. 

So  Senator  Kittredge  made  a  long  speech  in  opposition  to 
the  President's  plan  for  a  lock  canal  and  tried  to  change  the 
plans  to  a  sea  level  canal,  a  thing1  which  President  Eoosevelt  did 
not  want,  and  which  the  railroads  did  want. 

Another  trick  of  the  railroads  to  delay  the  building  of  this 
canal  was  to  raise  the  cry  of  fraud  in  the  management  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  where  it  is  being  built,  and  to  keep  the 
Roosevelt  administration  in  hot  water  by  having  a  constant  in- 
vestigation of  false  charges  going  on.  Senator  Kittredge  was  in 
this  scheme  because  just  before  Congress  adjourned  in  June  1906, 
he  attempted  to  pass  a  resolution  in  the  Canal  Committee  by  the 
aid  of  democratic  votes  to  continue  the  investigation  of  com- 


plaints  against  the  canal  management  upon  the  Isthmus  during 
the  recess  in  Congress. 

All  this  was  against  the  wish  of  President  Roosevelt  and  his 
administration.  The  President  wrote  a  letter  to  Congressman 
"Watson  of  Indiana  which  was  published  all  over  the  country  in 
the  newspapers  last  year,  in  which  he  complained  of  these  tac- 
tics to  defeat  the  canal  project  as  follows: 

"The  interests  banded  together  to  oppose  it 
(the  canal)  are  numerous  and  bitter,  and  most  of 
them  with  a  peculiarly  sinister  basis  for  their  op- 
position. This  sinister  opposition  rarely  indeed  ven- 
tures openly  to  announce  its  antagonism  to  the  canal 
as  such. 

Sometimes  it  takes  the  form  of  baseless  accusa- 
tions against  the  management  and  of  a  demand  for 
an  investigation  under  circumstances  which  would 
mean  indefinite  delay.  Sometimes  it  takes  the  form 
of  determined  opposition  to  the  plans  which  will  en- 
able the  work  to  be  done,  not  merely  in  the  best, 
but  in  the  quickest  possible  way." 

This  shows  what  President  Roosevelt  thinks  of  schemes  to 
change  the  plan  of  the  canal  and  embarrass  the  work  by  demands 
for  investigations  such  as  Mr.  Kittredge  proposed. 

What  the  Legislature  of  1907  Accomplished  In  the  Interest  of 

the  People 

3.  Again :  During  the  ten  years  that  Senator  Kittredge  was 
in  power,  not  one  law  was  passed  in  South  Dakota  regulating  a 
railroad  company  or  express  company.  Look  the  Session  Laws 
of  1899,  1901,  1903  and  1905  over  and  see  if  you  can  find  one. 

Now  let  us  compare  this  record  of  railroad  favoritism  with 
the  record  made  by  the  legislature  of  1907  and  by  the  present 
state  administration: 

The  legislature  of  1907  was  free  from  railroad  domination 
and  free  from  the  control  of  Senator  Kittredge  and  his  friends. 

Result :  It  enacted  in  one  session  of  sixty  days  the  following 
laws  in  behalf  of  the  people  and  affecting  public  service  corpo- 
rations : 

Requiring  railway  companies  to  pay  taxes  upon  terminals, 
buildings,  and  grounds  situated  within  cities  and  towns;  di- 
recting the  Board  of  Railway  Commissioners  to  as-certain  the 
cash  value  of  the  railroads  within  the  state  and  appropriating 
money  for  that  purpose;  making  it  unlawful  to  destroy  com- 
petition by  unjust  discrimination;  a  state  primary  election  law; 
prohibiting  corporations  from  making  contributions  for  campaign 


purposes;  making  secret  lobbying  for  corporation  and  special 
interests  a  crime;  giving  the  Board  of  Railway  Commis- 
sioners power  to  examine  the  books  and  accounts  of  public  ware- 
housemen; directing  the  Board  of  Railroad  Commissioners,  by. 
schedule,  to  fix  maximum  passenger  rates  at  2l/2  cents  per  mile ; 
compelling  railroads  to  put  in  connecting  tracks  at  junction 
points  and  to  make  joint  rates ;  requiring  railroads  to  pay  double 
damages  for  unreasonable  delay  in  making  settlement  for  dam- 
ages to  live  stock  or  property  destroyed  by  fire;  making  rail- 
way companies  liable  to  employes  for  damages  caused  by  neg- 
ligence of  co-employes;  limiting  the  continuous  hours  of  service 
of  railway  operatives  to  16  hours;  abolishing  free  passes. 

You  will  find  all  these  laws  printed  in  the  Session  Laws  of 
1907. 

It  promptly  passed  a  joint  resolution  endorsing  the  policies 
of  President  Roosevelt  in  relation  to  transportation  charges  and 
unlawful  trusts  and  combinations.  But  Mr.  Parmley,  one  of  Mr. 
Kittredge's  leaders  in  the  House,  voted  against  it.  (House  Jour- 
nal, pages  138,  298,  Senate  Journal,  page  375). 

Did  anyone  ever  hear  of  Senator  Kittredge  or  any  of  his 
friends  advocating  the  enactment  of  one  of  these  laws  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  people? 

Increase  of  Assessment  Valuation  of  Railroads  and  other  Cor- 
porations 

Under  the  new  railroad  revenue  law,  the  State  Board  of  As- 
sessment increased  the  assessed  valuation  of  the  railroads  34  per 
cent;  it  more  than  doubled  the  assessed  valuation  of  the  ex- 
press companies;  it  materially  increased  the  assessed  valuation 
of  the  Dakota  Central  Telephone  lines  and  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company. 

The  vital  thing  in  taxation  is  to  make  each  class  of  prop- 
erty bear  its  fair  proportion  of  the  burden.  The  constitution  of 
our  state  provides  that  all  property  shall  be  assessed  at  its  true 
value  in  money.  With  the  exception  of  property  of  public  serv- 
ice corporations,  the  assessment  is  made  by  local  assessors,  anJ 
it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  these  officers,  as  a  rule,  assess  prop- 
erty at  only  one-fourth  or  one-third  of  its  actual  value. 

City  and  county  boards  of  equalization  do  not  raise  the  ag- 
gregate assessment,  but  confine  their  review  to  individual  cor- 
rections. The  law  does  not  permit  the  State  Board  of  Equali- 
zation to  raise-  the  assessment  up  to  its  full  value  in  money,  be- 
cause it  prohibits  the  Board  from  increasing  the  value  returned 
by  the  local  assessors  more  than  a  certain  named  amount  in  the 
entire  state.  The  state  board  is,  therefore,  obliged  to  adopt  some 
ratio  of  value  for  all  classes  of  property,  and  equalize  on  that 
basis. 


— II — 

It  adopted  as  a  ratio  of  valuation  one-third  of  the  actual 
value  of  all  classes  as  nearly  as  ascertainable. 

It  assessed  railroads,  telegraph,  express  and  telephone  com- 
panies upon  the  one-third  basis  and  equalized  the  assessment  of 
farm  lands,  town  lots,  live  stock,  goods  and  merchandise  and 
personal  property  generally  by  fixing  their  assessed  value  at  one- 
third  of  their  actual  value.  Local  assessors  had  assessed  bank 
stocks  at  one-half  their  value,  and  in  order  to  treat  that  kind 
of  property  as  nearly  as  possible  the  same  as  it  had  treated  other 
kinds,  the  State  Board  cut  it  down  from  one-half  to  forty  per 
cent,  of  its  full  value.  I  submit  that  this  was  fair  all  round 
and  was  what  President  Roosevelt  would  call  a  "square  deal". 
It  raised  the  assessed  valuation  of  lands  in  some  counties  but 
common  observation  will  prove  to  any  reasonable  person  that 
the;-r  are  not  on  the  average  over  the  state  assessed  at  more  than 
one-third  of  their  actual  value. 

Appropriations 

The  appropriations  made  by  the  legislature  last  winter  for 
new  buildings  at  the  Hospital  for  the  Insane,  State  University, 
Agricultural  College,  Normal  Schools  and  for  the  new  state  cap- 
itol  building  were  necessary,  and  for  every  dollar  paid  out,  the 
state  will  have  its  full  value  in  a  good  and  substantial  building 
that  was  neded.  Our  state  has  been  growing  rapidly  for  ten 
years.  The  number  of  students  in  its  colleges  and  normal  schools 
and  the  inmates  in  its  penal  and  charitable  institutions  have 
greatly  increased  and  are  constantly  increasing.  Its  public 
buildings  were  out  of  repair  and  too  small  for  its  growing  needs. 
The  special  appropriations  for  new  buildings  were  especially  rec- 
ommended by  the  Boards  in  control  who  came  to  usjErom  the  old 
administration  and  were  voted  for  by  the  stalwarts.  Here  is  the 
record : 

The  Board  of  Regents  and  several  heads  of  the  educational 
institutions  in  their  biennial  report  to  Governor  Elrod  for  the 
biennial  period  ending  June  30th,  1906,  made  October  29th,  1906, 
about  two  months  before  the  Legislature  convened,  and  by  per- 
sonal recommendations  while  the  legislature  of  1907  was  in  ses- 
sion, recommended  the  following  special  appropriations  for  new 
buildings : 

UNIVERSITY :  Completion  of  upper  story  of  East  Hall  and 
to  provide  hospital  facilities,  $7,500;  furniture  and  equipment  of 
East  Hall,  $2,500 ;  New  Building,  law  or  library,  $20,000. 

AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE:  Ladies  Dormitory,  $50,000; 

SCHOOL  OF  MINES :  Improvement  of  grounds-,  $1,000;  Jan- 
itor's House  ,$1,500;  Metallurgical  laboratory,  $15,000; 


— 12 — 

.MADISON  NORMAL  SCHOOL:  Repairs  on  buildings  and 
grounds,  $1,500;  Science  Hall,  $20,000; 

SPEARFISH  NORMAL:  Repairs,  additions  and  improve- 
ments to  grounds  and  buildings,  $14,500;  artesian  well,  $1,000; 

SPRINGFIELD  NORMAL:  Purchase  of  land,  $4,000;  elec- 
tric lighting  plant,  $3,000;  gallery  in  auditorium,  $1,000;  new 
building  at  Spearfish,  $50,000: 

New  Building  at  Aberdeen  Normal. 

The  Board  of  Commissioners  and  the  Commandant  of  the 
Soldiers'  Home  in  their  annual  report,  recommended  the  follow- 
ing appropriations  as  necessary  for  the  erection  of  new  buildings 
and  repairs  actually  needed:  New  Buildings  $22,000,  erection  of 
cottages  and  repairs,  $22,000. 

The  Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections  and  the  Superintend- 
ents in  charge  of  the  various  penal  and  charitable  institutions 
under  their  care  recommended  special  appropriations  for  im- 
provements and  buildings: 

At  the  Hospital  for  Insane :  Completion  of  Woman 's  Hos- 
pital, $20,000;  furnishing  same,  $5,000;  extension  of  laundry, 
$4,000;  construction  of  green  house,  $4,000;  beginning  new 
building  violent  men  patients,  $5,000; 

School  for  Deaf  Mutes :   Additional  land,  $5,000. 

School  for  the  Blind :  College  room  to  accommodate  25  girls, 
no  specific  amount  asked. 

Penitentiary:  Relocation  of  woman's  ward  isolated  from  the 
male  department.  No  specific  amount  named.  Additional  hos- 
pital room  so  as  to  keep  cases  of  tuberculosis  entirely  separate 
from  other  patients,  no  specific  amount  named. 

The  total  amount  thus  asked  for  by  the  Boards  and  Super- 
intendents in  charge  is  nearly  $350,000. 

If  this  money  was  not  needed,  why  did  these  Boards,  which 
were  a  part  of  the  Elrod  administration,  recommend  it?  The 
plain  fact  is  that  the  institutions  had  been  neglected  and  were 
out  at  the  elbows  and  something  had  to  be  done,  and  these 
boards  knew  it.  Before  the  legislature  met  I  visited  every  one 
of  these  institutions  personally  for  the  purpose  of  investigating 
their  needs  and  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  appropria- 
tions mad 3  were  necessary.  The  $200,000  authorized  out  of  the 
general  fund  in  the  building  of  the  new  capitol  building  is  a 
temporary  loan  to  be  repaid  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of 
capitol  building  lands  given  to  the  state  by  the  United  States, 
and  should  the  Land  Commissioner  succeed  as  well  in  selling 
these  lands  next  year,  as  he  did  this  year,  that  appropriation 
will  not  be  used  at  all. 


—13— 
How  the  Stalwarts  Voted  on  the  Appropriations 

The  reactionary  Kittredge  leaders  voted  for  these  appro- 
priations. Are  they  willing  to  admit  that  they  were  wrong? 
Browne,  Foster,  Parmley  and  Foncanon  were  the  Kittredge  lead- 
ers- in  the  House.  Here  is  their  vote  on  these  and  other  appro- 
priations : 

STATE  FAIR  APPROPRIATION.  (House  Journal,  pages 
1785-6-9)  Not  one  vote  against  it.  Browne,  Foster,  Foncanon 
and  Parmley  voted  aye. 

COLLEGE  OF  LAW  BUILDING  at  the  State  University. 
Foster,  Browne,  Foncanon  and  Parmley  voted  aye.  (House  Jour- 
nal 1615-16) 

LADIES'  DORMITORY  AT  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE: 
Only  3  votes  against  it.  Foster,  Browne,  Foncanon  and  Parmley 
voted  aye.  (House  Journal,  1617-18) 

SCHOOL  OF  MINES :  House  for  Janitor  and  repair  for  me- 
tallurgical laboratory.  Foster,  Browne,  Parmley  and  Foncanon 
voted  aye.  (House  Journal  1619-20). 

NORMAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL  AT  ABERDEEN: 

Browne,  Foncanon,  Foster  and  Parmley  voted  aye  (House  Jour- 
nal page  1627). 

NEW  BUILDINGS  FOR  EXPERIMENTAL  STATION  AT 
HIGHMORE :  Browne,  Parmley,  Foster  and  Foncanon  voted  aye. 
(House  Journal  1548). 

NEW  CAPITOL  BUILDING :  Not  one  vote  against  it.  The 
Kittredge  reactionaries  all  voted  for  it.  (House  Journal  748-9). 

NORMAL  SCHOOL  AT  MADISON:  Improvements,  not  a 
vote  against  it.  Kittredge  men  all  voted  for  it.  (House  Journal 
1710-11). 

ADDITIONAL  BUILDING  FOR  LIVE  STOCK  AND  POUL- 
TRY EXHIBIT:  Browne,  Parmley  and  Foncanon  voted  aye. 
(House  Journal  1760) . 

GENERAL  APPROPRIATION  BILL:  Not  a  vote  against 
it.  Browne,  Parmley,  Foster  and  Foncanon  voted  for  it.  (House 
Journal  1687). 

HOSPITAL  FOR  FEEBLE  MINDED,  REDFIELD :  Appro- 
priation for  additianal  land,  Browne,  Foncanon  and  Parmley 
voted  aye.  Foster  was  absent.  (House  Journal  1777-8). 

SPEARFISH  NORMAL:  Appropriation  for  new  building. 
Browne,  Foncanon  and  Parmley  voted  aye.  Foster  was  absent. 
(House  Journal  1525). 


—14— 

HOSPITAL  FOR  INSANE  AT  YANKTON.  New  Building, 
Browne,  Foncanon,  Foster«and  Parmley  voted  aye.  (House  Jour- 
nal 1615). 

BILL  AUTHORIZING  2  MILL  DEFICIENCY  LEVY  FOR 
1907  AND  FOR  1908.  Browne,  Foncanon  and  Parmley  voted 
aye.  Foster  was  absent.  (House  Journal,  1513). 

Having  voted  for  these  appropriations  the  Kittredge  men 
stultify  themselves  in  attempting  to  show  that  they  should  not 
have  been  made. 

Levy  of  Taxes 

The  next  thing  is  the  necessary  levy  of  taxes  to  meet  the 
appropriations  and  to  defray  the  current  expenses  of  running 
the  state  government.  Having  abolished  the  use  of  free  passes, 
the  legislature  made  provision  for  the  payment  of  necessary  rail- 
road fare  of  its  officers,  expended  while  in  the  performance  of 
duty. 

The  people  of  the  state  by  a  large  majority  had  voted  in 
favor  of  establishing  a  twine  plant  in  the  penitentiary  for  the 
purpose  of  furnishing  the  farmers  of  the  state  with  cheaper 
binding  twine  and  authorized  the  levy  of  an  extra  .levy  of  1^2 
mills-  for  that  purpose. 

The  State  Board  made  the  following  levy  for  state  taxes  for 
1907: 

For  ordinary  expenses  .................   2      mills 

For  deficiency  .........................   1      mill 

For  erection  of  twine  plant  .............   l1/^  mills 


Total  levy  ...........................  4*4  mills 

In  1905  the  levy  for  state  purposes  was  as  follows  : 

General  ...............................  2      mills 

Deficiency    ............................   2       mills 

Additional  levy  .......................     *4  mill 

Total  levy  ...........................  4*4  mills 

In  1903  it  was  as  follows  : 

General  ...............................  2      mills 

Deficiency    ............................   2      mills 

Bond  interest  and  sinking  ..............     y2  mill 

Total  ...............................  4%  mills 

So  the  levy  made1  for  1907  ,when  it  was  necesssary  to  erect' 
so  many  new  buildings,  including  a  state  capitol,  and  to  make 


—15— 

.an  extra  levy  for  the  twine  plant,  is  not  larger  than  it  has  often 
been  in  prior  years. 

It  compares  very  favorably  with  that  made  in  surrounding 
.states,  as  the  following  levies  for  1907  show: 

South  Dakota 4^4     mills 

Wyoming 6%     mills 

Nebraska  7 .       mills 

North  Dakota 5  l-10mills 

Minnesota 3%     mills 

Iowa 3  9-10mills 

Declaration  of  Principles 

Now,  my  fellow  citizens,  it  is  for  you  to  decide  whether  you 
want  to  return  Mr.  Kittredge  and  the  old  railroad-machine  back 
into  power  again.  Last  year  you  took  the  power  away  from 
them  and  took  it  into  your  own  hands.  You  can  hold  it  and  pro- 
tect yourselves  against  machine  and  corporation  abuse,  or  you 
can  give  it  up  and  allow  the  railroad  machine  to  take  possession 
of  the  party  and  control  legislation  for  selfish  purposes.  You 
will  do  one  or  the  other;  there  is  no  middle  ground.  As  a  can- 
didate for  the  United  States  Senate,  I  stand  upon  the  following 
platform : 

1.  The  policies  and  measures  advocated  by  President  Roose- 
velt. 

2.  The  early  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal  according  to 
the  type  and  plans  adopted  by  the  administration,  and  a  com- 
prehensive and  permanent  improvement  of  the  Mississippi  River 
and    its    navigable    tributaries,    including    the   Missouri  River 
through  this  state,  so  that  the  same  may  be  effective  checks  upon 
excessive  railway  rates. 

3.  A  revision  of  tariff  schedules  by  placing  lumber,  coal 
and  iron  upon  the  free  list;   and  in  cases  where  the  manufacture 
of  an  article  is  controlled  by  a  trust  and  competition  in  its  pro- 
duction at  home  has  been  destroyed,  I  am  in  favor  of  reducing 
the  tariff  upon  it  to  a  point  that  will  permit  foreign  competition. 

4.  The  ascertainment  of  the  actual  value  of  railroads  en- 
gaged in  interstate  commerce,  the  limitation  of  issues  of  stocks 
and  bonds  to  bona  fide  transactions,  a  uniform  system  of  book- 
keeping and  accounts,  and  the  regulation  of  rates,— under  the 
supervision  of  the  government. 

5.  Extension  of  federal  control  over  all  corporations  en- 
gaged in  interstate  commerce,  without  impairing  the  power  of 
each  state  to  regulate  trade  beginning  and  ending  within  its 
borders. 

6.  A  federal  tax  upon  inheritances  and  incomes. 


U  V  vl  U       L.  I  U  Ft  nil 


— 16— 

7.  A  law  making  it  a  crime  to  lobby  in  secret  for  special 
and  corporate  interests  with  members  of  the  national  congress. 

8.  A  federal  law  to  protect  depositors  in  national  banks 
and  creating  postal  savings  banks. 

9.  A  law  providing  for  greater  elasticity  in  the  currency  so 
that  it  may  be  temporarily  increased  and  withdrawn  without  in- 
jury to  trade. 

Should  I  succeed  and  become  a  member  of  the  senate,  my 
services  there  will  be  given  wholly  and  without  the  slightest  em- 
barrassment or  compromise  to  the  people. 


611  294 


